Leah Nadine (Grimshaw) Driggs is descended from the Zephaniah Grimshaw family line. She has done extensive research on her family line and has graciously made this research available for this webpage. Leah Nadine goes by her middle name.
Thanks go to Nadine Driggs for providing the information that appears on this webpage. Thanks also to Nadine’s daughter, Cheryl Elkins, for providing assistance and to her sister, Enid Clay, for helping to locate the pictures.
The Three Earliest Grimshaw Generations: William, Zephaniah and Charles Wesley
Nadine’s earliest known Grimshaw ancestor is Zephaniah Grimshaw, who is described on a companion webpage. Zephaniah is almost certainly descended from William Grimshaw, Revolutionary War veteran, although complete proof has not yet been established. William Grimshaw is the subject of two companion webpages, one on his Revolutionary War record and another on his post-war life in New Hampshire.
Charles Wesley Grimshaw, third child of Zephaniah and Asenath Noakes, were married in 1845, and lived in Osmond, Pierce County, Nebraska. They had children as follows: Cerena, Susanna, William Charles, Lucretia, Henry, Charles, and Webster John (my grandfather) born November 14, 1858.
Webster John and Leah Ann (Thompson) Grimshaw
Webster married Leah Ann Thompson around 1883, and had three boys and three girls — Arthur, Mabel, Fern, Cora, Jesse, and Raymond (my father). All the children were born in Nebraska, except Raymond. In 1894, Webster and Leah Ann moved to Elkton, Missouri where Raymond was born in 1896. It was there that Leah Ann died September 23, 1898, possibly from complications from childbirth, because records show that a baby boy, Ralph, died at three months. Leah Anns headstone shows both names. Photos of Webster and Leah Ann Grimshaw are shown in Figure 1. A picture of Webster’s father, Charles Wesley Grimshaw, is provided in Figure 2. Additional photos of the family appear in Figures 3 and 4.
Figure 1. Photos of Webster John Grimshaw and his wife, Leah Ann Thompson. Date of photos is unknown.
Figure 2. Charles Wesley Grimshaw. Date of photo unknown. Charles was born April 18, 1825 and died January 25, 1898. He and Lucinda M. Covey were married on August 18, 1846.
Figure 3. Family photo of Webster and Leah Grimshaw’s family. Taken at the funeral of Leah shortly after her death on March 22, 1898. From left to right, Jesse Wendell, Arthur Eston, Cora Alvina, Webster John, Fern Myrtle, and Raymond Glenwood Grimshaw. Photo taken on the day of his mothers funeral, showing the whole family, except Mabel).
A short time later Webster and family moved to Joplin, Missouri. Websters trade was a builder and a carpenter, so the family moved where he could find work. After a year, he moved to Pawnee, Oklahoma, leaving some of the children in Joplin. He finally built a house in Pawnee and brought the children there.
Webster met a lady and they were to get married, but she said “No, as long as there were children in the house.” The three older ones were able to care for themselves, so moved out. Cora went to live with friends, and my father, Raymond, was sent to an orphanage, I know not where or for how long. Jesse was taken by a couple to help with the farming.
Around 1909, Webster was living in Oklahoma City and had a brick yard, where he made his own bricks. He built several schools and churches there. My brother, Vern, and two sisters, Enid and Wava, and myself, made a trip through all the states that our ancestors lived in. We have pictures of the brickyard and one of the schools that he built. The school is still being used. Pictures below (Figures 4 & 5):
Figure 4. #003-Pre 1900 Brickyard in use. Webster sitting on left.
Figure 5. #005 University Heights school under construction. Webster presumed to be in the center.
Jesse and Raymond Grimshaw Go to Work for Silas Thomas
In 1911, Jesse ended up working for Silas Hugh Thomas in Gracemont, Oklahoma, for $1.00 a day, and room and board. He also brought Raymond to live and work there. Raymond would have been around 15 years of age.
Silas Hugh Thomas (born January 28, 1874) married Minnie Jane Johnson (born August 4, 1872) on August 2, 1899 (see Figure 6) for a photo of Silas Hugh and Minnie with their family). Minnie Jane was native American, being half Cherokee, which we are all very proud of. One thing I regret very much is not talking to her about her young life and her parents. I can remember when I was young, being native American was looked down on and no one admitted it. [Silas Thomas’ parents are shown in Figure 7].
Figure 6. Picture #026. Nadine Driggs’s maternal family of origin. Silas Hugh and Minnie Jane (Johnson) Thomas. Children, from left to right, are Vertis Verden Thomas, Daisy Lavita Thomas (front), Sadie May Ivanilla Thomas, and Golda Bell Thomas. Daughters Sadie May and Golda Bell later married brothers Jesse Wendell and Raymond Glenwood Grimshaw.
Figure 7. Photo of Silas Hugh Thomas’s father and mother. Andrew Byland Thomas, born May 10, 1847 and Sarah Elizabeth Wemer, born July 11, 1852. Andrew died in 1924.
Nadine believes that her father, Raymond, who never had a mother or a family in his young life, spent many happy times with the Thomas family, having picnics, games, and trips with horse and wagon (Figures 8, 9).
Figure 8. Picture #027. A Thomas family picnic near Gracemont, Oklahoma. From the left: Golda Bell, (my mother), Sadie May Ivanilla, Daisy Lavita, Vertis Verden, Silas Hugh and Minnie Jane (my grandparents), and Raymond Glenwood (my father).
Figure 10. Picture #32 Croquet, left to right: Friend, Ivanilla Thomas, friend, Golda Thomas, friend, Minnie Jane Thomas, Hugh Thomas, friend. Kneeling: Daisy and Vertis Thomas. Photo taken at Gracemont, Oklahoma about 1915.
The Grimshaws and Thomases Migrate to Montana
In July of 1913, Jesse left for Billings, Montana, on hearing about homesteads in that area. He worked for a year on a couple of places and then went to Warren, Montana, in the southeast part of the state. There he filed a claim on a homestead. A year later, Hugh Thomas and family left Gracemont for Montana also, and filed a claim bordering the one that Jesse had.
There were seven people on that long journey. Hugh, Minnie Jane, Golda, Ivanilla, Daisy, Vertis, and Raymond Grimshaw. I dont know how they made it in that touring car. Note picture below (Figure 11) of one camping spot on the trip, taken in Wyoming.
Figure 11. #033. Vertis, Daisy, Hugh, Minnie Jane, Ivanilla, and Golda (Looks like only one tent )
On arriving in Warren, they built a cabin from railroad ties. Must have been a very rough life. I and my brother and sisters drove around where the cabin once stood, everything barren, but for grasses and rocks. There did not look like there had been any trees for fire wood.
Brothers Jesse Wendell and Raymond Glenwood Grimshaw Marry Sisters Sadie May Ivanilla and Golda Bell Thomas
Some time after arriving in Montana, Jesse Wendall and Raymond Glenwood Grimshaw married sisters Sadie May Ivanilla and Golda Bell Thomas. Photos of the two couples are shown in Figure 12 and 13.
Figure 12. Jesse Wendell and Sadie May Ivanilla (Thomas) Grimshaw. Jesse and Ivanilla raised three girls and three boys, and had many grandchildren.
Figure 13. Raymond Glenwood and Golda Bell (Thomas) Grimshaw wedding photo, June 19, 1916. Golda was just 16 years old; Raymond was 20. Golda was the sister of Sadie May Ivanilla Thomas in the above photo.
Raymond and Golda were a hard working couple to feed and clothe a family of eight children. Their daughter, Nadine, remembers her father walking twelve miles to work and back every day to earn $25.00. Nadine can also remember her mother scrubbing overalls on a washboard for five boys. One great thing about the family was that all ten family members ate supper together. They had a large “triangle”, so called, to ring when meals were ready. It was a big one, not like the little ones seen in the movies. It was a heavy pipe bent into a triangle and the family would use another heavy pipe on each side of the triangle; it was a wonderful sound. Nadine can still hear it now; she believes it came from a logging camp. It could be heard all over their twenty acres.
Westward Migration to Oregon
Sometime in the summer of 1917, the Thomas family and Raymond Grimshaw left Warren for Oregon. Jesse Grimshaw stayed in Montana because he had a good job at Duff, north of Warren. His wife, Ivanilla, was pregnant, and he didnt want her staying in Warren because there were no doctors, so she went ahead of him with the Thomas family also.
They settled at Goble, on the Columbia river, 40 miles north of Portland. Hugh Thomas cleared land and built a log house (Figure 14). Raymond bought a piece of property across the road from an established dairy farm. The property was probably bought from the dairy farmer, Fritz Anliker, as indicated by the fact that Raymond worked there a great deal — plowing, making hay, milking, and other things. Nadine also worked for the lady of the house in her teen years.
Figure 14. Silas Hugh Thomas (right) and Nadine’s father (Raymond Grimshaw) clearing land to build Hugh’s house in Goble, Oregon. Nadine’s dad must have liked to dress nice when going to work.
Raymond build a small house and that is where Nadine Grimshaw was born, on October 11, 1917. All eight of her siblings were also born there, as well as her daughter, Bonnie Jean. Bonnie Jean is proud to say that she was born in the same house, although its shape had changed a lot over the years, with additions here and there due to the increase in the family.
Jesse and Ivanillas baby, Stafrin, arrived January 19, 1918, and Jesse came from Montana three months later. He built a “shack” as he called it just a mile down the road from Raymond’s family. They had six children. Then Daisy Thomas married Alvin Swatman, and they built a house across the road from Jesse. That family consisted of seven children, all girls, and all with names for flowers. So there were twenty-one cousins within a mile of each other who were always together — a great childhood, as far as Nadine was concerned.
Zephaniah Grimshaw Descendant Chart
Nadine has provided additional information for her line of descendants from Zephaniah. This information has been combined with the descendant chart on Zephaniah’s webpage to prepare the chart shown in Figure 15.
Figure 15. Descendant Chart of Zephaniah Grimshaw, Showing Details of Nadine (Grimshaw) Driggs’ Family Line
|—–Elizabeth Grimshaw (5 Dec 1832 – ) & Nicholas Middlemiss (8 Jul 1825 – )
|—–Esther Mary Grimshaw* (About 1834 – 24 Jul 1908) & Emanuel W. Wilson
|—–Esther Mary Grimshaw* (About 1834 – 24 Jul 1908) & Samuel Rivers
|—–Zephaniah Grimshaw* (5 Aug 1836 – 22 Jan 1901) & Amelia (Emilie) Gay (About 1831 – )
|—–Zephaniah Grimshaw* (5 Aug 1836 – 22 Jan 1901) & Mary (Grimshaw) (26 Jul 1843 – )
|—–Anna Grimshaw (About 1838 – )
|—–Lucinda Grimshaw (About 1839 – )
|—–Elizabeth Grimshaw (About 1844 – )
Nadine Has Published Her Letters Home from Vietnam
Nadine and her husband were in Vietnam as civilians during the war and lived through the Tet Offensive in early 1968. She has provided the following background information.
Delbert got a position is Vietnam, hired as Superintendent of Fire Protection and Prevention, over all the fire stations in the Greater Saigon and outlying areas. These were protecting facilities that were needed to service United States troops.
Del always had me join him no matter where he happened to be employed. So after getting my passport, several visas, and numerous shots, I arrived in Saigon
Del had rented an apartment with a Vietnamese family, we having half of the second floor. One large room, two beds, a small table, 2 kitchen chairs A kitchen with a cot and a counter. We bought a dishpan, 2-burner hot plate, a small refrigerator, and all the necessary odds and ends.
We were surrounded by our troops by Enlisted Mens quarters in back, NCO quarters on the left and Officers quarters on the right, so Del just knew that was one of the safest places to be in Saigon.
But then came the Tet Offensive——-
A photo of Nadine and Delbert while in Vietnam is shown in Figure 16.
Figure 16. Photo of Del and Nadine Driggs in Vietnam
Nadine wrote many letters to relatives back home while they were in Vietnam and subsequently published them in a book, which she has described as follows in an e-mail:
The book consists almost entirely of my letters home.
Title: “Letters from Vietnam and Thailand”
Author: Nadine and Del Driggs
Composed by: Nadine Driggs and Bonnie Driggs Lafrenz
Published by: Bonnie Driggs Lafrenz
Date: 2000 Copyrighted
It is professionally bound with 205 pages, plus 14 pages of color pictures
[Published in] Post Falls, Idaho
A sample of one of the letters, written on February 3 — about four days after the start of the Tet Offensive on the night of January 30-31 — is shown in Figure 17
Figure 17. Sample letter from Nadine’s book, written during the Tet Offensive, on February 3, 1968.
Nadine Experienced the Mount St. Helens Eruption
Nadine took the picture shown in Figure 18 during the May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Her description of the event is shown below the picture.
Figure 18. Picture of Mount St. Helens eruption taken by Nadine Driggs in May 1980.
Nadine has provided the following description of the events around the Mount St. Helens eruption (lightly edited by the website author)
My sister, Enid Clay, called and said to turn on the TV – that Mount St. Helens blew. Ten minutes later, our daughter called and said to go outside and look at the sky. Our daughter called around 9:00 a.m. on May 18, 1980. What excitement!
We could see dark sky in the southwest. Rolling clouds were becoming visible. I took many pictures, and the one here being the last, due to sharp particles getting in my eyes. I put a large white sheet on the grass to catch some ash to preserve. The next morning the sheet was so covered with 4 inches of ash, that I could not find it. Anyone want to buy some ash? It was dark as dark can be around noon. We could see fine speck hitting the windows, and it was as if the windows were covered with black tar paper. We were in touch with our two daughters, who were safe at home. Lightening was all around us constantly. We had a scanner, and were sure glad of that, and that we still had electric service. All the TV and radio stations were off the air. What was so scary was that about every 15 minutes a call would come in from a law enforcement vehicle that they were disabled due to ash being sucked into the motors. Finally only one state patrol was moving. Before long the freeway was lined for miles with disabled vehicles.
We finally retired around 2:00 a.m. and were so thankful when we awoke and had some daylight. But what a forbidding sight. Cars, sheds, motor home, trees, garden and all were just a gray mass.
Many days ahead of us to clean it all up, and find a place to put it.
Final Resting Places of Nadine’s Ancestors and Related Family Members
Nadine has provided photos of the gravesites of her grandparents and other relatives, which are shown in Figures 18 to 20 below.
Figure 18. Grave markers of Webster John and Leah Ann (Thompson) Grimshaw – Nadine’s grandparents. Webster is buried in the Kobel cemetery, approximately eight miles west of Goble, Oregon. Leah Ann is in the Elkton, Missouri cemetery.
Figure 19. Gravesite of Wendell Stafrin and Alta Grimshaw (left) and their son, Danny Grimshaw, who was a casualty of the Vietnam war. They are buried in Desert Lawn cemetery in Kennewick, Washington.
Figure 20. Graves of Jesse and Ivanilla Grimshaw, Nadine’s uncle and aunt. They are buried in Desert Lawn Memorial cemetery in Kennewick, Washington. Jesse’s footstone was placed by the Veteran’s Association.
